3. Subject Pronouns
What are subject pronouns?
A subject pronoun, also called subjective or subject personal pronoun, is used as
substitute for proper and common nouns.
Examples
John is a doctor - He is a doctor
The laptop is on the desk - It is on the desk
A subject pronoun is used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.
Example
______ did the job.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject
pronouns.
A subject pronoun indicates:
● number: singular or plural,
● gender: male or female,
● person: first, second or third person.
4. I (first person singular)
you (second person singular)
She (third person singular female)
He (third person singular male)
It (third person singular inanimate )
We (first person plural)
You (second person plural)
They (third person plural)
The words "I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they" are subject pronouns. They refer to a
person or thing in speech or in writing.
5. Object Pronouns
What are object pronouns?
An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functions as the object of a verb
or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the
subject of a verb.
Examples:
● He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is
the object of the preposition with)
● She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)
Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know
what the object is.
● She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her.
● I like this film. I saw it last week.
6. Object Pronouns
Object pronouns in English are the following:
me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Object pronouns come after either a verb (e.g "like") or a preposition (e.g "to").
Examples:
● I like you but you don't like me.
● Do you really hate her?
● She loves sitting next to him.
● She always writes e-mails to us.
● He's talking to her about it.
7. Possessive Adjectives
What are possessive adjectives?
Possessive adjectives - my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their - modify the noun
following it in order to show possession.
Examples:
● I'll get my bag.
● Is this your luggage?
Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.
Examples:
● Your bike is blue. (your is an adjective which modifies bike)
● Mine is yellow. (mine is a pronoun which functions as the subject of the verb is)
8. Subject Pronouns I you he she it we you they
Possessive Adjectives my your his her its our your their
Examples
● Why didn't you clean your room?
(your modifies the noun room)
● Mary doesn't like her dress.
(her modifies the noun dress)
● The chameleon can change its color.
(its modifies the noun color)
Her hair is long.His hair is short
9. Things to remember:
1. Possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns.
● This is your (possessive adjective) book and this is mine (possessive pronoun).
2. its, their are possessive adjectives.
● Its color is beautiful.
● Their car is in their garage.
3. it's, they're and there are not possessive adjectives — it’s is a contraction of it is or
it has; they're is a contraction of they are; there is an adverb of place.
● It's not my book = It is not my book.
● My house is big. It's got five bedrooms = It has got five bedrooms.
● Nancy and Alan are from New York. They're my friends = They are my friends.
● Please, put the chair there. (adverb)
10. Possessive Pronouns
Definition
A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or
something. Like any other pronoun, it substitutes a noun phrase and can prevent its
repetition. For example, in the phrase, "These glasses are mine, not yours", the words
"mine" and "yours" are possessive pronouns and stand for "my glasses" and "your
glasses," respectively.
Examples
This is our house. It's ours.
This is my bedroom. It's mine.
This is my brother's bike. It's his.
11. The words "mine, yours, his, hers, its , ours, theirs" are possessive pronouns. They
show who or what something belongs to.
Note
1. A possessive pronoun differs from a possessive adjective.
● What color is your brother's jacket? --- His jacket is black.
(your and his are possessive adjectives; your and his modify the noun jacket in both examples)
● What color is yours? --- Mine is blue.
(yours and mine are possessive pronouns - yours functions as a subject complement in the first
example; mine functions as a subject in the second example)
2. "It's" is not a possessive pronoun or adjective; it is a contraction of it is or it has.
● It's not my book = it is not my book
● It's got five bedrooms = it has got five bedrooms
Subject Pronouns I you he she it we you they
Possessive
Adjectives my your his her its our your their
Pronouns mine yours his hers its ours yours theirs
12. Reflexive Pronouns
What are reflexive pronouns?
Reflexive pronouns are used when the object is the same as the subject. For
example, in the sentence "he hurt himself", he and himself refer to the same person.
Reflexive pronouns are also used for emphasis. In this case, they are referred to as
intensive pronouns. For example, in the sentence "I spoke to the president himself",
the speaker emphasizes that he spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.
"I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."
"He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him."
13. Subject Pronouns0 Reflexive Pronouns
I myself
you yourself
he himself
she herself
it itself
we ourselves
you yourselves
they themselves
In the above examples, the reflexive/intensive pronouns can be removed without
changing the meaning.
List of reflexive pronouns
14. Uses of reflexive pronouns
1. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object refer to the same thing:
● He blames himself for what happened.
● You might cut yourself.
● We will enjoy ourselves in the party.
2. Reflexive pronouns may be used as the object of a preposition:
● He made a cup of coffee for himself.
● He was talking to himself.
● She did the job by herself.
3. Reflexive pronouns are also used for emphasis. In this case they are called intensive
pronouns. Intensive pronouns can be removed without changing the meaning of the
sentence.
● I met the king himself.
● The president himself announced the news.
● He sent the letter himself
15. IMPERATIVE
Definition: Imperatives are verbs used to give orders, commands,warning or
instructions, and (if you use "please") to make a request. It is one of the
three moods of an English verb (indicative, imperative and subjunctive).
● Give me that tape, please.
To make the imperative, use the infinitive of the verb without "to"
● Come here! Sit down!
To make a negative imperative, put "do not" or "don't" before the verb:
● Don't go! Do not walk on the grass.
You can also use "let's" before the verb if you are including yourself in the
imperative. The negative of "let's" is "let's not".
● Let's stop now. Let's have some lunch.
● Let's not argue Let's not tell her about it.
16. Orders
Adults do not usually give each other orders, unless they are in a position of
authority. However, adults can give orders to children and to animals. The
intonation of an order is important: each word is stressed, and the tone falls
at the end of the sentence:
● Sit down now!
* "Sit", "down" and "now" are all stressed, and the tone falls on "now".
Warnings
You can use the imperative to warn someone of danger. All the words in the
warning are stressed, but the last word has a higher tone than the first word:
● Sit down now!
* "Sit", "down" and "now" are all stressed, and the tone falls on "now".
● Watch out!
● Look out!
● Don't cross!
17. Advice
When you give advice using the imperative, the words are stressed normally.
For example:
● Don't tell him you're resigning now! Wait until Monday when he's in a better mood.
● Don't drink alcohol
● Don't eat heavy meals
Requests
You can also use the imperative to make a request, but you should use a
polite word before the verb:
For example:
● Please take a seat.
● Please wait here.
● Please hold the line.
● Please don't smoke here.
Notes:
Note that an imperative sentence does not require a subject; the pronoun "you" is implied.
18. How to change Imperatives into Indirect Speech?
1. Change SAID TO into any one of these words as suitable TOLD,
ORDERED, COMMANDED, REQUESTED, ADVISED, REQUESTED, BEGGED,
WARNED, ASKED, DIRECTED, THREATENED.
2. Do not use the conjunction word THAT. In its place add TO.
3. The verb of the direct speech is changed into the infinitive form:
to bring, to write
4. In the negative sentences, NOT is put before the infinitive:
not to speak, not to walk
19. Examples :
1. The teacher said to us, “work hard".
The teacher advised us to work hard.
2. He said, “Mala, get me a glass of water".
He asked Mala to get him a glass of water.
3. The master said to the servant, “Go away at once".
The master ordered the servant to go away at once.
4. He said to him, “please wait here till I return".
He requested him to wait there till he returned.
5. The commander said to his troop, “Fire the enemies at sight".
The commander commanded his troop to fire the enemies at sight.
6. The policeman said to the driver, “Park your car over there."
The policeman instructed the driver to park his car over there.
7. The doctor said to the patient, “don’t take more sugar as you are diabetic".
The doctor advised the patient not to take more sugar as he was diabetic.
20. Capital letters - Easy Learning Grammar
A capital (or ‘upper case’) letter is used to mark the beginning of a sentence.
When I was 20, I dropped out of university and became a model.
Capital letters are also used for the first letter in proper nouns. These include:
● people’s names Jenny Forbes William Davison
● days of the week Wednesday Saturday
● months of the year August January
● public holidays Christmas Yom Kippur
● nationalities Spanish Iraqui
● languages Swahili Flemish
● geographical locations Mount Everest Australia
● company names Dyson Harper Collins
● religions Islam Buddhism
Capital letters are also used for the first letter in titles of books, magazines, newspapers, TV
shows, films, etc. Where there are several words, a capital letter is usually used for all the
main content words in the title (i.e. not the prepositions or the determiners – unless they are
the first word in the title).
